


if a monster roars in the forest (does anyone hear it)

by anupturnedboat



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Leaving Home, Not Actually Unrequited Love, One Shot, Post-Graduation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 18:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6481474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anupturnedboat/pseuds/anupturnedboat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This is it,” he says as soon as she opens the door.  “After this you will be 3000 miles away,” he rambles breathlessly shifting from foot to foot.</p>
<p>It’s the kind of thing said between friends whose paths are diverging.  But they’re not friends</p>
            </blockquote>





	if a monster roars in the forest (does anyone hear it)

  
She has an 11 am flight, her bags are packed, and she’s said all her goodbyes. Darkness has just turned to hues of early morning gray, and he is the last thing she expects to see on her front porch.

“This is it,” he says as soon as she opens the door. “After this you will be 3000 miles away,” he rambles breathlessly shifting from foot to foot.

It’s the kind of thing said between friends whose paths are diverging. But they’re not friends.

She can’t meet his eye, and he’s dragging the zipper of his hoodie up and down.

She doesn’t remember the exact moment when she wished she hadn’t been so quick to dismiss his longing, his loyalty, his care. It seems like maybe it was on a busy street in Mexico. But then things had spiraled out of control and the tenuous beat of something that had almost been had flickered out.

She can blame it on bad timing, on werewolves, and madmen and dark rooms and drills.

But really, the real monster had always been her fear of being broken wide open for someone else to see.

Even now, when there’s literally nothing left to lose. Because she’s leaving and he’s staying and what’s the harm in feeling (for once) what it’s like to have someone standing right out there waiting for you?

He’s dragging the zipper of his hoodie up and down; her heart is beating so hard she can hardly breathe.

It’s all the nervous energy she can take; she’s about to be on a flight across the country, and she’s got enough butterflies in her stomach already. So she quiets her thoughts, draws her mouth into a harsh line, “Stiles, stand still, please.”

His cheeks are ruddy, and she can tell there are more words fighting to spill out of him. And she will stay. _She will stay if he says it_.

“Stop freaking out,” she admonishes instead.

_Because she can’t stay._

“I’m not freaking out. It’s just that everyone’s leaving and, ok, I’m freaking out.”

“We can’t all stay here forever,” she says softly.

“Just me though right? I can stay.”

She hates that he has decided to stay behind in Beacon Hills. Maybe, if she had been a better friend, been the girl Stiles has always wanted her to be, she would have tried to convince him to do something different, something less dangerous, something closer to her.

But she hadn’t, and now there is just this; one last goodbye she has been trying not to think about. “We’ll always be friends,” she promises lamely. Knowing it’s not enough, not what he’s come for.

His eyes slide from her eyes to her lips, it’s ridiculous, but she blushes right up to her hairline.

“Friends,” he repeats watching her, and she can tell his mind is still racing through things unsaid. “Ok,” he breathes out nervously, his eyes back on hers. He steps closer, and now there is no space between them. “I’m probably going to ruin everything then.”

His thumbs brush across her cheeks briefly, as he looks to her for permission before crashing his lips to hers. And she kisses back, with all the intent and desire that has been bottled up inside her these past two years. She wants to wear her heart on her sleeve. She wants to hold this moment in place, to change all their plans, to redefine the future now.

She wants him to know, to understand what he has meant to her, even if she’s never going to be able to say it out loud.

Her eyes are still closed when they break apart.

“So, friends then,” he exhales shakily. And they both know it’s a lie


End file.
